SC directs Supertech to deposit another Rs 10 crore by Sept 22 to refund home buyers

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed builder Supertech to deposit another Rs 10 crore with the court's registry till September 22, which will be refunded to flat buyers of its twin-tower project in Noida who want their money back.

The apex court has also directed the real estate firm to process all the applications already filed by the home buyers seeking refund.

Counsel for some of the Emerald Court home buyers Shoeb Alam argued that Supertech was in breach of the order dated January 11, as it was not refunding the money to the home buyers who were not before the court.

He also argued that the builder was breaching the SC's March 27 order directing the firm to refund the principal amount to home buyers.

Court has now directed Supertech to deposit Rs 10 crore by September 22, which will be refunded to the home buyers seeking refunds on a pro-rata basis, according to Alam.

This will take the total deposit by the real estate firm to Rs 20 crore. The company has already deposited Rs 10 crore in the court's registry.

A response from Supertech is awaited.

In a big setback to the real estate developer, the National Building Construction Company (NBCC) in its report submitted to Supreme Court on November 8 last year said the construction of the twin towers — Apex and Ceyane — in its Emerald Court project in Noida were in violation of Noida Building Regulation (NBR), 2010. The report found out that the open space available between the two towers — Tower 1 and Tower 17 — is less than 20.45 metres.

Supertech, however, contested the findings of NBCC, saying the project was sanctioned in 2009 and NBR, 2010 was not applicable to it. The court is yet to take a call on the same.

On April 11, 2014, the Allahabad High Court had ordered demolition of the two 40-storey residential towers on homebuyers’ complaint that the builder did not have necessary permissions to build these. The court had asked the company to refund homebuyers’ money with 14% interest. The builder then moved the apex court.

The builder has already deposited Rs 5 crore as directed by the Supreme Court in July last year. The apex court in September last year also directed the builder to pay 10% of invested money per annum as investment returns to 14 people, starting January 2015, and to clear any arrear within four weeks.

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